Teaching Practice (Online)- Week 3

After a long wait, we had our teaching practice with students scheduled from 23rd November to 4th December. I had received the opportunity to carryout my teaching practice at Christ Nagar Senior Secondary School, Thiruvallam. It was indeed that much awaited opportunity to take class for students. Though we had it online, we were happy at the fact that we could take live classes. 

I was assigned to the classes 8H, 7G and 6G. The principal of the school was very kind enough to provide us with the schools G-suite login so that we could feel one with the institution and take classes in a hassle free manner. 

In the first week I had 5 classes, two each for the 8th and 7th graders and one for the 6th graders. For the 8th graders we were given the lesson Princess September , for 7th graders Quality and for the 6th graders, Fair Play.

Innovative techniques for marking attendance.. by asking them to smile for a picture!

Teaching Practice (Peer Teaching) Week 2

After having completed one week of teaching practice, all of us had become aware of our shortcomings and were working hard on overcoming them. For the second week our teacher Ms Prabhitha had shuffled our groups and made us work with another set of students. My peer group consisted of Athira Sreekumar, Awani, Annie and Feba.

Day 6 (9/11/20)

I continued with the prose lesson. As instructed by my teachers, I had resorted to occasional code-switching. I had looked up the Malayalam terms of the glossary section and used them while explanation so that the students could relate better.

Day 7 (10/11/20)

I was extremely happy after todays session. I had incorporated a lot of inputs of my teachers. I feel that my class is getting honed everyday. I still have to work on my pace of speaking and slow down a bit. 

Day 8 (11/11/20)

The activity I took today was enjoyed greatly by my peers. They reflected that they were able to recall the lesson well through it. With all the positives being said, I still have to reduce my pace of delivery. 

Day 9 (12/11/20)

As I was unwell yesterday, I wasn't able to prepare a solid lesson plan. I was quite nervous on how I would take the class. But as I was very thorough with the story, I could manage it without much difficulty.

Day 10 (13/11/20)

I was contended at the end of todays class. Throughout the course of the two week I had received several suggestions from teachers on how to improve various aspects of my teaching practice and was able to rectify them as much as possible. 

Teaching Practice (Peer Teaching) Week 1

Our teaching practice was destined to have its beginning via online platforms. We were all anxious about our teaching practice as the pandemic had brought considerable delay to the academics. However, though online we got the opportunity to have our teaching practice by November 2.

Day 1 (2/11/20)

The first practice of the session had to be a shared one, so myself, Keerthi and Reshma took the lesson Song of a Dream by Sarojini Naidu. We only got 10 mins each to complete our portions. I had taken the first two stanzas of the poem. First day of our practice went well. 

Day 2 (3/11/20)

On the second day we began our individual practice. I began with the poem A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost. I was quite relaxed today when compared to the first day. I had made a mistake while displaying the picture of the stanza. Thankfully I was able to spot it quickly and rectify it. I felt sad about making the mistake. 

Day 3 (4/11/20)

By today the teaching practice had become the new normal. Todays session was the most difficult session I had taken. Due to technical issues I could not hear the responses of my pupils (peers). Teaching seemed very difficult as a one-man speaking process. 

Day 4 (5/11/20)

I felt quite confident in todays class. It was perhaps the emergency management practice of the previous day that made me less anxious today. I had listed a couple of plans in case my initial procedures wouldn't work smoothly. I was able to complete the session well and I felt quite accomplished. 

Day 5 (6/11/20)

Today I began with a new prose lesson The Scholarship Jacket by Marta Salinas. When compared to the poetry lesson, the amount of preparation required for the prose lesson was quite immense. I am working on improving my volume and voice modulation as suggested by my peers and teachers. 

Peer Teaching Day 1!

On November 2, 2020 we began our very first session of online teaching practice. We began with peer teaching first. As we are 20 in number, our teacher Ms Prabhitha divided us into four groups of 5 members each wherein we would do our peer teaching. We began with a shared practice, with me, Reshma and Keerthi taking the first session on Sarojini Naidu's Song of a Dream. 

Then our friend Mary Jaya took a session on The Village Blacksmith. 

Self Reflection

I felt a bit anxious in the beginning as I worried of network issues. As we were to take class amongst our peers I felt quite relaxed and motivated. I was very conscious about sticking on to the 10mins allotted to me that many at times I just paused to check if I've exceeded. I found it very difficult to restrict myself to 10 mins as poems require quite sometime to be explained well and discussed. Over all, the day one experience was indeed good.  

Teaching Diaries!

The University of Kerala hinted that the teacher trainee students can begin the their teaching practice sessions in feasible ways. In the 3rd semester the student teachers are supposed to complete 40 days of teaching practice. As the reopening of schools seem uncertain, the university gave us the alternative of having the teaching practice among our peer, among a small group of school children etc in a virtual setting.  

Our college decided to begin our peer teaching from the 2nd of November.